this before. and regarding this matter, at 2:25 a.m. -- you are watching nhk world. this is "newsline" for 11:00 a.m. japan time. video footage from the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant shows what appears to be steam or smoke rising from four reactor buildings. this footage was shot from an nhk helicopter at around 7:00 a.m. on thursday from a distance of over 30 kilometers from the plant. what appears to be steam was rising from the number one reactor building for the first time. 'steam was also seen riding from

the buildings of the number 2, number 3, and number 4 reactors. the nuclear and industrial safety agency says that steam was rising from the four reactors as of 10:00 a.m. and that all of it was colorless. at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, work to cool down the storage pool after reactor building has been resumed. on wednesday, black smoke was seen rising from the number 3 reactor building. for safety reasons, work was suspended on restoring the cooling systems of reactor buildings one through four. the nuclear and industrial safety agency says at five 5:35 a.m. on thursday, the black smoke could no longer be seen. >> about the spent fuel pool on march 23rd, from 11:03 to 13:20,

we injected about 35 tons of sea water to cool. and in addition, on today starting from 5:35 a.m., we are right now injecting 500 tons of water, sea water. and we have started this operation. regarding the number 3 reactor, for the reactor core, we have been using sea water to pour in -- we have been pouring in sea water but we intend to start pumping in fresh water, and that is expected to start today, using a pump that will be activated. the agency said on wednesday the radiation level near the reactor building had not changed since the smoke appeared. the agency says the cause of the smoke is not known.

workers have made progress on tuesday night when lighting was restored in the number 3 reactor control room. electricity to the plant had be been cut since the quake on march 11th. tokyo power company was planning to test the water pumps for the number three reactor but operate ro 0 operations were halted when the smoke caused workers to flee. now we go live to chief secretary's yukio edano's news conference. we are waiting for mr. edano coming in to the room. and holding the news conference. and here's comes yukio edano.

translator: good morning. we have been making announcements from the relevant institution agencies. i have nothing to say so i will just take your questions. translator: yesterday, the metropolitan tokyo government announced that radioactive materials found from the tap water and the tokyo government is distributing bottled water, but the bottled water is in short supply. and the government seems to be considering asking manufacturers to increase their production. what can you tell us about this? translator: well, the water for babies under 12 months, it has been recommended they do not drink this water. so, for -- this is a very low

level of radioactive don't which will be not harmful for the health, even if consumed over a long period. for babies under 12 months this time, the tokyo metropolitan government took this measure based on a very conservative set of standards. so for other people, people other than babies, the radiation levels will have almost no effect. therefore, people other than those with babies, we ask everyone to respond calmly. but for people with babies, we hope that they will not be

adversely affected and they metropolitan tokyo government is doing its best. and the central government also will urge relevant organizations to increase production of bottled water. so such measures will be requested to manufacturing companies. but these manufacturers, water manufacturers, they have been increasing production since the earthquake and that will be difficult for them to increase production. so how will you respond? translator: will you be seeking supplies of bottled water outside of japan? >> we will be exploring all possible v possibilities -- we will be exploring all possibilities and i repeat, however,ilities and i repeat, however, this is not restricted to water but all the recommended

limits set by the government. this is a conservative set of standards which assumes long-term consumption. therefore, for water, the standards currently being announced by the tokyo government except for infants the radiation levels will have no affect on people. so, we will continue to explain the foundations of issuing such recommendations. translator: according to the nhk's footage, smoke is coming out from various reactors. could you tell us about this? and they said number one reactor is in the most dangerous situation. and how do you recognize this?

translator: first of all, he says that smoke is coming out but, the fuel pool has water now. and it's now being cooled. and so the steam or vapor is coming out for certain level. and so this is only natural. and at the same time, we are -- we have to study all possibilities and people on the ground are analyzing this. and mr. madarame yesterday's comment, according to the media report, there are many optimistic reports but as i have been repeating this, as of now, the the important thing we have been working on to prevent further deterioration and we are also working on improving, for

example, the power supply, but of course we cannot be too optimistic. we are still still taking caution measures. and in this situation, yesterday, the temperature of the core of number one reactor rose. and by cooling this further, the temperature right now is going down, but the pressure has been going up. however, it's not any imminent situation. by cooling this steadily, the important thing is to work on the pressure, lowering the pressure. and so since he's an expert, relatively speaking, number one reactor for the efforts is needed. that's how he said. translator: about number one reactor, the damage of core in

number one reactor, well, due to this damage the pressure vessel might have been damaged as well, is there any possibility of further damage? translator: as of now, it's not that we have seen damage in pressure vessel. that's what i've heard. however, the situation of a nuclear reactor, the cooling and also by temperature and the pressure -- for example, the monitor on temperature is now being set up and so the readings of the temperature is being read. and being monitored carefully by the experts. this is true not just in reactor number one and this has been what the experts have been doing on the ground. translator: earlier,

mr. madarame aerks mr. yukio edano met with the prime minister. what did the prime minister have to say to mr. edano. >> he confirmed details and the nuclear safety commission to the government gave various advice and recommendations that is the the commission gives advice about safety measures at the nuclear power plant and also about tap water and the effects of radiation on agriculture

produce. the members of the nuclear safety commission are stepping up their efforts to respond better to the developing situation. and the prime minister requested the commission make greater efforts and be more prepared. >> we have heard that the prime minier asked him forore advice. the mini and industry clr aand the

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this is a nursery. and people hereill ha t prepare a baby formula using water. however th are having a difficult time trying to secure water. it's not just preparingmiut also water is used to prepare food for the hiren. they went to four stores but f. they were only able to secure two days' worth of the nutritionist here says that chat is needed to prepare food and drinks for the babies, but now she feels very worried. staff here try to buy water over the internet. however, it seems that everybody is trying to access the site,

and therefore this person says that she's unable to open the order form here. she says that there isn't anything to replace war d she's worried how long this would continue because this is not a problem just about tomorrow. the tokyo metropolitan office says tt eyilprid 240,000 bottles of 550 milliliter water bottles. th23ar itokyo and the five cities in tama district will receive the 240,000 soft water bottles or the bottled

soft waters especially for families with babies under 12 mohsbumoerwi children who are older than 12 months are also worried. michie kaei has a 2-year-old son and lives in setagaya ward of too. yesterday she used mineral water instead of tap water for cooking miso soup. she needs the correct information more than anything else. i am breast feeding hi >>ndhe vy rrd the effect of the breast feeding because when the mother intakes the tap water, then she is very worried that this may affect the breast feeding and she says that the information is lacking, and the similar level of radioactive substance was detected in ibaraki prefecture at the water

purification facility at hikachi oda and also tokaimura, found that the tap water contaminated with the radioactivity. shukyama?saki analyzes the tap water substance on human health. >> what will be the influence on the children and adults? >>es what we are worried about is iodine 131 and when it is ingested it may cause thyroid cancer especially when it is taken by the younger people, including small children, the influence will become greater

and this iodinissed for producing the growth hormones, so they tended to be accumulated on the ground. so i think this is more easily for the children to concentrate the level of the iodine in the gland so it is the intake for infants, it should be less than 100 becquerel so at this time the level exceeds this limit. so also we should be worried about the influence on the fetus and when the chernobyl incident happened, yes, some pregnant women were exposed to the

radiation, and so some research took place to examine the influence on the fetus and the result shows that there is not much difference between the influence on the fetus or small children, and so the japan obstetricians and the gynecology association is now examining the effect on the fetus, and they're going to report to us very soon, and every day. >> it is almost impossible to imagine how to lead our daily life without using tap water. what kind of things should we keep in mind? >> well, this is 100 becquerel

that is the limit for infants intake, but this is very, very conservative value. this will hardly affect the adults' health, so you can use tap water for taking baths or washing hands. there is no concern about this. and also i think lots of parents are very worried about the influence on their small children and now the hoarding of bottled water is happening but i really hope the grownups should refrain from buying the bottled water so that more bottled water will be available for parents with small children and there is another important thing that is how to disseminate information and in tokyo the water supply below opened the website and also the national institute of

the radiological science has a website, and also you can get access to the website of the local government, and so you can get information by using these sites, so please, stay calm. the number of deaths from the march 11th quake and tsunami has now risen to more than 9,500. the national police agency says 9,523 deaths have been confirmed and more than 16,000 people remain unaccounted for. search efforts are still being hampered by debris and impassable roads. nearly 220,000 people are in emergency shelters around the country. in the three worst hit prefectures, miyagi, iwate and fukushima, which bore the brunt of the tsunami there are more than 1400 shelters, housing 180,000 people.

there is growing concern for the health of people in these areas. meanwhile three aftershocks with intensities of 5.0 plus on the japanese scale of seven rocked fukushima prefecture wednesday. the meteorological agency says aftershocks with intensities of 4.0 or more have been registered more than 70 times since the march 11th quake. the agency warns the more aftershocks of up to 6.0 plus are possible. video footage of a tsunami taken from a helicopter over miyagi prefecture shows a series of huge waves surging toward the shore. the footage was taken about half an hour after the quake on march 11th. the helicopter flew from north to south along the pacific coast, covering the region from sendai city, miyagi prefecture to iwaki city, fukushima

prefecture. it shows a wall of water uprooting trees before engulfing houses and paddy fields and swallowing up huge quantities of sand. the footage also shows footage fleeing to the roof of a nursing home as the waves tapped the second floor of the building. a large number of people are reported dead or missing in the ward. in waters off natori city, miyagi a phenomenon called an andula bore was seen. in which a series of tsunami waves were high near the shore and flooded in. tohoku university professor fumihiko imamura says more than 20 andula bores and the extensive damage may have been caused by them.

schools in the quake hit area have become a temporary home for thousands of evacuees. many students have returned but not for classes.